“Let food be your medicine, and medicine be your food” are words from Hippocrates.
Which really makes sense. Why ? Well , think about this , what do people do when they are sick? they drink medicines right? And where did that medicine come from ? from nature.
Here’s the thing , we only eat our medicine when we are already ill. One of them is herbs and spices.
Herbs and Spices are God-given medicines. And we can include them in our daily meals.
Who would not love a tasty dish?
Have you ever felt your tongue dance because of the melody given by the food ?
In eating food , aside from it being tasty , we should also consider the benefits before we dig in. Which most of us don’t care about for the mere fact of being busy.
Tasty dish can be deceiving because it contains spices. There are spices that are bad for our health and can only be felt in the long-run. On the other side there are spices that came from nature, no chemical added–pure.
Herbs , according to the dictionary, are plants that are green in color and have delicate and tender stems which can be used for flavoring , food , medicine, preservatives or perfume. On the other hand , spice is any other part of a plant that is usually dried and known as spice.
Here’s a tip : using it fresh gives more antioxidant compared to processed or dried leaves. But dried leaves give you more flavor than the fresh ones.
Benefits of herbs and spices includes :
- Prevent heart diseases , critical illnesses like cancer and diabetes
- Anti-inflammatory properties
- Anti-tumor properties
- Can reduce blood clots
- Reduce damage to your body cells
- Lower cholesterol level
- Improves brain function and memory
- Reduce nausea
- Fights Infections and boost immunity
Some lists of most used Herbs and spices and ways to use them
- Mint – yogurt , drinks, meat, chicken, desserts,sauce
- Parsley– salads, butter, sauce, seafoods
- Basil – pasta, tomato sauce, meat , prawns or shrimp, chicken, pizza
- Oregano – cheese dishes,bread,pizza
- Rosemary -steak, soups, fish ,sauce
- Chives – salads, soups, chicken or it can be a garnish
- Sage – chicken dishes, stuffings,tomato dishes
- Peppermint – drinks, tea, aromatherapy
- Cinnamon – bread , soup
- Cayenne Pepper – meat , chicken , soup ,pizza
Including this to your cooking , you can be adventurous. Just always take note that a generous amount of herbs can overpower the taste of the other ingredients, so you also have to be careful in adding them.
Are you bored of your simple dish already ?
Maybe this is the time for you to add spice and make your food even healthier !
